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The CO2 Coalition is launching two 60-second advertisements nationwide to share basic scientific facts about carbon dioxide.
A recent national survey of 800 registered voters confirms that our messages positively influence opinions. Initially, voters were divided. 39% said CO₂ can have environmental benefits such as helping plants grow, 41% said any increase in atmospheric CO2 is harmful, and 20% were unsure.
After viewing our video messages, the numbers shifted sharply: 61% agreed that CO2 has benefits, only 26% said increases are harmful, and just 13% remained unsure. The net result moved from −2 to +35 percentage points!
To put this in perspective, a 12-point polling increase (or lift) is widely viewed as excellent or strong in messaging, advertising, and brand-lift studies—especially for harder-to-move metrics like favorability, consideration, or issue attitudes (where average lifts are often only a few points). Our messages far exceeded that benchmark, delivering a net swing of roughly 37 points.
Both ads performed very well. The most persuasive messages centered on CO2’s role in photosynthesis and as a necessity of life. 81% found the statement that CO2 is a vital component of photosynthesis—producing the food and oxygen humans and animals need—to be “convincing” or “very convincing.” 73% agreed that without CO2 there would be no crops, no food, and no life.
Other effective points included that commercial greenhouses raise CO2 levels to accelerate growth, that satellite data show a global expansion of vegetation, that plants need a minimum atmospheric level of 150 parts per million to survive, and that they thrive at higher concentrations.
These results show that when Americans hear straightforward information about CO2’s role in plant growth and agriculture, many reconsider earlier assumptions.
We are now placing the advertisements across the country to reach a broader audience with the same evidence-based message: Carbon dioxide is essential to life, and rising levels are greening the planet, expanding forests and grasslands, and producing larger harvests.
The campaign is launching at precisely the right time as we defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding. We can replace the demonization of carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant in the public mind with recognition of its essential role as a beneficial gas in nature.
We can also educate Americans that fossil fuels are excellent sources both of the energy that powers modern economies and of the rising levels of CO2 that benefit agriculture and ecosystems.
However, we can only do this with the support of fellow warriors for truth like you. Please consider contributing to this initiative.
You can view the two ads here:
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